Commission internal competitions help temporary staff

Members of European commissioners’ private offices and commissioners’ spokespersons dominate the lists of candidates who were successful in recent recruitment and promotion competitions inside the Commission.

The competitions, which were advertised only internally inside the European Union institutions, have resulted in so-called reserve lists, ie lists of names of people who can be appointed to jobs at the specified grades.

The competitions attracted two sorts of applicants: permanent officials seeking promotion who wanted to qualify for posts at a higher level than their current jobs; temporary staff wanting to qualify for posts as permanent officials.

The staff unions have complained that the competitions were biased in favour of people working in commissioners' cabinets.

At each grade, there were just eight places available, in each of five policy families (agriculture, fisheries, environment and climate change were grouped together in one family).

The highest administrator grade available was AD 12, which commands a monthly salary of €10,300 and upward, and usually translates to a middle management post (heads of unit are in the range of AD 9 to AD 14).

Among the 40 AD 12 positions available on the reserve list, according to the staff union R&D, 21 posts went to members of commissioners’ private offices or associates.